Chapter Text
". . . and the rest is rust and stardust."—Nabokov
Noriko Kakyoin never believed in coincidences.
At least, she thought she didn't.
Ever since she came back from a surprise trip to Egypt with her parents, her mind felt like it had been in a daze. It was as if she was suddenly pushed into a foggy, dark cave, and the only way she could navigate through was with a single damp match that was slowly dwindling down into nothingness.
Every time she would try to ponder on what happened after that night in Egypt, her mind would immediately draw into a blank, and she'd start to hear a chilling voice in her head.
"Noriko Kakyoin . . ."
It didn't matter if it happened in the middle of a hot summer afternoon or during the morning of a chill November, the voice that haunted her dreams had been etched into her mind ever since, and she couldn't escape it.
"Kill . . . Jojo."
Logically speaking, she could easily chalk this up to just feeling under the weather since she was about to start a new term in another school, but as the time of her first day drew ever so closer, so did the demands of the voice that tenderly whispered into her mind.
"End . . . him . . . Noriko . . . for me."
She wasn't the only one who could hear it. No, her friend, Hierophant Green could hear it as well.
Until a few months ago, she finally understood what her friend really was.
A Stand.
A Stand, as she now know, is the physical manifestation of one's life energy. It has unique properties that could attack enemies, defend its users, and possess an array of other abilities that fit its nature.
For Noriko Kakyoin, her Stand appeared the minute she was born, and after everything they had been through together, she had always assumed that it was just her and Hierophant Green against the world.
Until that one particular night in Egypt.
It was a simple excursion really. After an exhausting day of touring the Nile, Noriko figured it was high time she should explore the city on her own. Surely, her parents wouldn't notice. It's not like she'd be going to some club or anything. Heavens no, she just wanted to see the city by herself without having a tour guide drag them around with an imposing deadline.
Besides, Hierophant Green would be with her and it can take on anyone. She was confident there was no one like her at all.
Until she met him.
Dio.
Even now, she couldn't fathom why the thought of him brought such a sense of chill within her. Was it fear? Admiration? A longing to be his friend because she never had one?
Whatever the case. They only met once, but it honestly felt like it was longer than that.
At least as far as her memories go.
Dio was the one who told her what Hierophant really was. He also explained to her why she could never relate to anyone else. To him it was a simple answer: Because she was special.
No one ever called Noriko special before. She had "strange", "insane", and if they really tried, "annoying know-it-all" which is true to a certain degree . . .
But Dio didn't just call her special, he made her feel special too.
And to Noriko, the girl who never had a friend aside from her own soul, it was more than she could ever hope for.
It all happened too fast. One minute she was roaming around the streets of Egypt at night, and the next, she came across another person whom she thought was also a tourist.
He was a well-built man with a distinctive sense of style. His golden hair and eyes looked too beautiful to be real, yet the minute his eyes landed on Noriko and Hierophant, she knew he wasn't a mere figment of her imagination. If he could see Hierophant, her best and only friend, then Noriko knew he was someone she could trust. It didn't help that his natural charisma, captivating voice, and passionate words made her feel like she was more than what she was in Japan . . .
Her memory blurred sometime after that, but after she returned to Japan, she knew that she didn't just came back as a new person . . . she also had a piece of Dio with her.
She just wished she knew what it was.